The Meaning of Consignment Accounting
Consignment refers to selling the goods manufactured by a company through an agent. This sales method is especially popular among businesses located abroad who want to sell their products in your country.
For example, if a US-based company wants to sell its phones in India, it can hire a local agent who will sell the products. The business that is selling its products through an agent is called the consignor. The agent is called the consignee.
The benefit to the consignor of using this business model is that they don’t have to worry about promoting their product and handling customers. They can simply take advantage of another business’s advertising/marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) expertise.
This allows the business to focus exclusively on the production of goods and become better at it. It also allows the business to quickly expand its scale of operations without setting up a branch in a different country.
What does the consigner get in Consignment?
The benefit to the consignee is that they can make money without manufacturing products. They can earn a commission by selling the products of the consignor. There are two types of commissions that consignees earn:
Sales commission: This is the type of commission that is paid to all consignees. It is paid as a percentage of the total sales. For instance, if their charge is 10%, then the commission paid will be 10% of the total sales they made.
Del credere commission: If the consignee chooses to take responsibility for any irrecoverable debts, they are paid a del credere commission. In this situation, any irrecoverable debts are a loss to the consignee but don’t reduce the amount the consignor owes. The Del credere commission is typically a percentage of the total amount of the transaction, and it can vary based on the creditworthiness of the buyer and the risk involved in the transaction. For example, let’s say that a seller sells goods worth $10,000 to a buyer on credit. The seller may pay a Del credere commission of 2% to the agent who is facilitating the transaction. In this case, the commission would be $200. The Del credere commission is a way for the seller to shift some of the risk associated with the transaction to the agent, who is willing to take on the risk in exchange for the additional commission.
